Understanding Hybrid Authors

Good morning from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com New words have grown out of the digital age, and one of those words is hybrid. You probably know that hybrid is a thing made by combining two different elements or a mixed character. Those of us writing fiction for traditional publishers and also self-publishing are hybrids.

Why do this? Being published traditionally and books are distributed to stores. Why select a publishing method that rarely gets into stores and depends upon Internet buyers for sales? Why pay for editing, cover design and formatting (or do it yourself) when it is free with traditional publishers along with receiving an advance on sales?

The positives for being a hybrid - An author:
1. Has the final say, writing stories he wants without changes to meet the needs of a publisher’s book line, genre or editors.
2. Can step outside his brand and write stories different from what is expected by his publisher and readers in terms of genre and story length.
3. Can design the cover and title his book without other’s doing it for him.
4. Keep his writer’s voice pure with no changes of word choices, sentence rhythm and symbolism.

The negatives - An author:
1. Foots the bill and pays for all that goes into the publishing of a novel, such as: editing, cover design, and printing and faces mistakes, wasted money, scams and issues without backing.
2. Receives no distribution or marketing other than what he does on his own or must pay for it.
3. Finds slow sales even when traditionally published with a good following.
4. Learns larger sales number even with a lower royalty rate earns more money than a hybrid
5.  An author learns “the buck stops here.” Mistakes,

So why do it? I became a hybrid first when my out of print book rights were returned. I thought of my novels fully written that didn’t fit the lines I wrote for. Some I loved and were, in my opinion, my best writing. I reworked the stories to my present quality of writing and used the opportunity to bring them to life. My first new novel, Treasures of Her Heart, a romantic mystery set in a Michigan tourist town, released this June, a novel with characters that had remained in my mind and heart.

Treasures of Her Heart
Nikki Townley a fashion-buyer, looking for a life with deeper meaning, leaves her career and moves to a small, tourist town in northern Michigan to assist her ailing great-aunt Winnie in running her floundering antique business. There she finds herself caught in a mystery searching for her aunt’s missing fortune, facing an investment company in pursuit of her aunt’s property, and hoping to save a long-distance romance with her faithful male friend Rob Moore, while struggling to escape her attraction to an exciting, smooth-talking womanizer. Can she overcome temptation, locate the missing fortune and find the truth to the treasures of her heart? Will Rob wait for Nikki to make up her mind?
Click here to read the first 2 chapters:  http://amzn.to/1lx0k4x